F1 Austrian Grand Prix Betting Preview – It May Pay To Avoid Hamilton

Jun 21, 2015

Brushing away his Monaco disappointment to win the Canadian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the seventh time in eight races when beating teammate Nico Rosberg in Saturday’s qualification session in Austria.

The Englishman thought he’d blown his chances of P1 in Sunday’s race after spinning out on his final qualifying lap, but Rosberg also went off track during his final attempt at pole and Hamilton’s first lap time of Q3 proved to be enough.

Mixed Fortunes for Ferrari in Austria

Qualifying third in Spielburg was Ferrari’s four-time world champion and one-time 2015 race winner Sebastian Vettel, who’d actually won two of the three Austrian Grand Prix practice sessions. Meanwhile, teammate Kimi Raikkonen had an awful qualification session in Spielburg and was eliminated in Q1.

Hulk Splits the Williams’

Williams’ Valtteri Bottas had a decent qualification session after recording the sixth fastest lap time, but colleague Massa was the more impressive of the two with the fourth fastest time. Perhaps most impressively of all, however, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg qualified fifth – only days after winning the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Wantaway Red Bull Perform Poorly in Austria

After the Red Bull owner again threatened to leave F1, his team performed poorly at their own track in Austria with Daniil Kvyat qualifying tenth and Daniel Ricciardo fourteenth. Both drivers also face ten-place grid penalties for engine changes.

Penalties Galore for McLaren in Austria

Sporting new aerodynamics, engine and gearbox parts, Fernando Alonso could only qualify fifteenth in Austria, while McLaren teammate Jenson Button performed well when the Spielburg track was damp, but fared much worse once it dried up, eventually qualifying seventeenth.

If that wasn’t bad enough for Honda powered McLaren, their drivers face a combined 50-place grid penalty due to engine and gearbox changes and will also have to serve drive-through penalties.

Austrian Grand Prix Betting

Pole-sitter Hamilton is priced at 4/7 with Paddy PowerPaddy Power, while teammate Rosberg is 3/1 with Bet Victor. Third on the grid, Ferrari’s Vettel is offered at 13/2 with Paddy Power.

The Austrian Grand Prix Betting Tips

We wanted to back Raikkonen to finish in the top six, but the 4/9 price is not attractive. Bottas’ Williams car suits the fast track in Austria and along with his podium finish in Canada, the Finn finished third in the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix. Sixth on the grid this time, with a good start the 11/2 offered for a repeat is tempting.

All in all, pole sitter Hamilton is very likely to win, but as usual we’re not backing a 4/7 shot. Instead, and although we’ll likely get out money back on this, we’ve opted for Rosberg – who won last year’s race – each-way.

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